The same
stormwater fee – which has been criticized by business owners and Jackson
County government – is still in place. The new council members have given different
reasons for the lack of immediate action as a result of the concerns.

"We're being sued, and you can't
change stream in the middle of a lawsuit," Griffin said. "It's admitting you're
wrong. And we were ready to go with some serious changes to it, to make
some drastic changes (to the fee), which is what I said (during the campaign): to drastically reduce or get rid of it."

Griffin said he is convinced the fee
is legal, but he would still like to eventually reduce the burden to property
owners. "As soon as this (lawsuit) is settled, we've got a plan to roll this
back," he said.

Derek Dobies, one of the newly
elected council members, also said he still wants to see the fees revised.

"As with anything, things take time,"
Dobies said. "We've been in office for a few months now. I campaigned on either
revising or repealing it – not straight out repealing. I think there are
definitely some things with the burden it places on local businesses that we
just absolutely have to take a look at. I've been in communication with the
city manager to review the fee. It's a priority, I think, of anyone in council."

Laura Dwyer Schlecte, another new
council member, during the campaign supported a public vote on the fee. She
said her views have changed since she was elected and she learned more. But she said she still wonders whether the fee is too high.

"When I
got into office I learned a lot more about it," she said. "When you get in you
learn a lot more than the outside world knows and what the necessity is for the
storm fee. I'm not necessarily against the storm fee, but I think we need to step
back and take a look at it, see if it's at the right price point."

The city
needs revenues for meeting federal stormwater requirements, she said, and the
city can't afford to pay those costs out of the general fund, which she said
would force layoffs. "I don't want to see anybody fired unless they're not doing
their job," Dwyer Schlecte said. "I certainly don't want to lose any more fire
or police (employees)."

She said
she would like to see property
owners who divert stormwater runoff with measures such as retention ponds to
have an opportunity to earn enough stormwater fee "credits" to avoid paying any
fee, Dwyer Schlecte said.

There are already stormwater credits. Griffin said there is
the potential for more.

"It's generating a little more revenue than I think was
anticipated," he said. "For that we can give people credits. We can drop the
price down further. But we can't do anything until the lawsuit is settled."

The Jackson City Council approved the stormwater fee in
January 2011, with supporters saying the estimated $800,000 in annual revenues
would pay for city measures such as street sweeping and storm sewer maintenance
to keep stormwater from bringing pollutants into the Grand River. Opponents
called it an illegal "rain tax."

In late 2011, the Jackson County Board of Commissioners and
two Jackson businesses sued over the fee, which costs homeowners $32
per year and some business owners with large parking lots several hundred
dollars per month.